


Better Latte Than Never

by suicider00m



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Coffee, Coffee Shops, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, tbh this whole thing is really just about coffee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 19:05:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7857460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suicider00m/pseuds/suicider00m
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard drinks too much coffee (not that Frank is complaining).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Latte Than Never

**Author's Note:**

> hey sorry for not posting as much/only posting shit recently. I'm working on it.

The guy first came into the coffee shop last November. 

He stumbled in during the early hours of the morning, beating the usual early bird rush of people on their way to class or work. His skin was covered with smudges of paint and charcoal and Frank couldn’t tell if the bags under his eyes were from lack of sleep or three-day old eyeliner. Either way, it was pretty amazing that he still managed to look attractive despite his zombie-like state. 

He had dragged himself over to the counter, ordering three black coffees before Frank could even open his mouth to recite the “Welcome” spiel. He’d handed over a ten dollar bill (also splattered with paint), telling Frank to keep the change before collapsing into one of the available chairs. Frank figured he was the unlucky member of a study group made to make the coffee run, so he placed them in a holder and called out for the guy.

Frank gave him an encouraging smile and was about to wish him good luck with his finals when he was shocked into silence by the guy taking the coffees out of the holder and shotgunning them one after another, tossing the empty cups into the trash before turning and walking away without another word. Needless to say, Frank was _concerned._

The next time the guy came in, before he could even open his mouth to order, Frank told him firmly, “You are only allowed to have one coffee. I will not be held responsible for your death-via-caffeine-overdose.” The guy laughed, loud and unbridled, before ordering a single coffee, black, with a blueberry muffin to go. When Frank gave him the muffin and coffee, the motherfucker chugged it right then and there, making sure to keep eye contact the entire time. He shot Frank a cheeky grin before he left, and Frank couldn’t help but find himself ridiculously attracted to the smug son of a bitch.

It wasn’t until December that he finally learned the guy’s name, having to ask for it on a particularly crowded day in the shop: Gerard. Frank smiled as he wrote down the name; his chance for revenge had finally come. 

For the next two months, every time Gerard came in, Frank made sure to spell his name incorrectly on the cup. Even if he told him, “ _Gerard_. G-E-R-A-R-D, got it?” he’d just nod and continue to purposefully fuck it up, delighting in the adorable pout-scowl combo that would appear on the other man’s face as he read his name— or what wasn’t his name, rather. 

Garard, Gerald, Jared, Gerrey, Geraldine, Gary, Jerry, Jenson, Gina, James, Jimmy, Gemma, Ginny, Julia, Geralt, Geronimo, Geraldo, Jarvis, Gerbert, Jehovah, Jiffylube, and Swiss Chard (that was one of his personal favorites).

Eventually he ran out of fake names to give the guy and started putting his actual name on the cups. Occasionally he’d add a smiley face next to his name, but he didn’t do that too often as he didn’t want Gerard to think he was weird (although he could’ve sworn that the guy smiled wider on the days he drew smiley faces). This continued on until May, when Gerard was back to his beat-the-morning-crowd schedule and looking more and more defeated by the day. Frank decided that this had gone on long enough and decided to take matters into his own hands.

The next morning, Frank had a cup already prepared to pour Gerard’s regular (coffee, black) into. He handed it to the guy with an especially wide smile, hoping to catch his reaction as he noticed the extra effort Frank had gone to with his order that day. While waiting for the first customer of the day, Frank had (rather badly) doodled a smiling tree on the side of the cup, including a speech bubble that said, “Have a fantaSTICK day!” Unfortunately, Gerard didn’t seem to notice Frank’s attempt at making him feel better, just gulping at his coffee as he stumbled out of the cafe. 

The next day though, Gerard walked in with a lighter step, actually smiling at Frank as he gave his order to the boy (which was really unnecessary as Frank knew his order by heart; it wasn’t exactly difficult). 

“Thanks,” he said, startling Frank into nearly dropping the coffee pot. “For yesterday, you know. I, umm— I’ve just been having a really difficult time with finals and everything and that just made my day so, yeah. Thanks.”

Frank tried not to smile too wide as he handed Gerard the coffee. “No problem.” That day he had drawn a couple of stars, along with the words, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” (He’d stolen it from a tumblr post but no one needed to know that.)

Gerard shot him an even wider smile after seeing the side of the cup and ended up practically skipping out of the shop. Frank messed up four orders that day because he was daydreaming about Gerard’s smile, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. 

This continued on for the next couple of days, Frank’s puns getting progressively worse: an awful portrait of Harry Potter with "Espresso Patronum," "It's a BREWtiful day to exist," and the entire first paragraph of the Bee Movie script (which he definitely did _not_ have memorized). By the time the week had come to a close, Frank had finally gotten up the nerve to draw a (really bad) picture of a squirrel with the caption, “I’m nuts for you!” He nearly dropped the cup twice while carrying it over to Gerard, his hands shaking so hard that he was sure that coffee would spill over the edges and onto the other man’s hand. Luckily, no such mishap happened and Frank was left to wonder about how Gerard would react as he went to serve the next customer. 

After the morning rush had come and gone, Gerard walked into the shop with the cup in his hand, a shy smile on his face. 

“Thanks for the coffee,” he said, handing over the empty cup and leaving as quickly as he had come. Frank stood there for a moment, confused until he noticed the phone number scrawled messily on the other side of the cup.

_call me sometime_   
_xoxo Gee_

**Author's Note:**

> hmu @ twentyoneboyfriends on tumblr


End file.
